OCCUPY TILL I RETURN

I had a precious (and very long) phone conversation this morning with a dear sister whom I call "Zipporah." We had a lot to discuss and process because we discovered we've both been struggling with the same issue. We both believe that the horrific days described in Matthew 24 and in Revelation 6 and 8 are just ahead of us. The anticipation is hanging over us like thick darkness. And yet it is quiet, oh so quiet.

We confessed to one another that in this strange silence before the storm we are calling out to Yahweh, "How shall we prepare? What should we be doing? Surely there are things we should be doing to get ready for the ravages of great storms, food shortages, possible pandemics, and certain persecution against believers! " I told Zipporah how odd it has been feeling to me that my days are so simple and uneventful. I wake up in the morning, praise Yah for the beauty of another day, get in my car and thank Him for a reliable vehicle and the freedom to go wherever I want to drive - then go to the little chiropractic office where I work and greet the people with love, sometimes being allowed to pray for their healing - and then come home at lunch and throw in a load of laundry. Finally, I finish a workday and sit down to a lamb chop, baked sweet potato and some greens, giving thanks with a deeply grateful heart that I have plenty of food in the house and the warmth of my furnace at night. Then sometimes I teach a Bible lesson to a few old folks at my parents' retirement home. If it is an Erev Shabbat, I gather with my home group and we light two candles, welcoming in the Sabbath and sharing delicious food and robust Torah study.

"But that doesn't seem like I'm doing very much," I moaned to my friend on the phone. "It seems like in these days just before judgments and shaking, we should be doing something to be ready!" That is when the Lord interrupted our conversation and spoke these words: "OCCUPY TILL I RETURN."

Occupy? What does it mean to occupy?! These words are used in the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:13). The king calls ten of his servants together and gives them each ten minas. Then he instructs them: "Occupy until I return." I looked the word occupy up in the Greek and the word is pragmateuomai. Here were the dictionary definitions:

1) to be occupied in anything
2) to carry on a business
3) to carry on the business of a banker or a trader

Not very exciting is it? Not thrilling or romantic or urgent! Just "to be occupied in anything." In other words, "carry on." And so with my friend still on the line, we asked the Master, "Show us what you mean by this, please, so that our hearts can be at rest." The Spirit spoke to me and said, "Get up in the morning and rejoice in the day that I have made. Go to your place of work and share My love, praying in everything. Wash your clothes - purify yourself - and assemble with My people. Remember the Seventh Day, to keep it holy. Give thanks in all things. Occupy till I return."

So, it is true: the will of God is simply stated for us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This is our preparation, we concluded. These are the simple things we must all do to prepare our hearts and minds for the days ahead. And then the Spirit continued and gave us one more precious word: "Then those who feared Yahweh talked with each other, and Yahweh listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared Yahweh and honored His name. 'They will be mine,' says El Shaddai, 'in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.'" (Malachi 3:16-17)

That was all we needed to know.